Considering Sustainability in Construction Project Management

Sustainability is one of the most important challenges of our time. How can prosperity be developed without compromising the lives of future generations? These sustainability concerns are also critical in the construction industry, as buildings and construction projects are significant resource sinks and consumers of energy. The industry therefore needs to take meaningful action in order to reduce its negative impact on climate and society. Given the central role of projects in the construction industry, the concepts of sustainability have more recently also been linked to project management (PM). From the emerging sustainability school of PM, two types of relationships between sustainability and PM appeared: the sustainability of the deliverable that the project realizes and the sustainability of the process of delivering and managing the project. Based on the available literature, this chapter identifies the areas of impact of sustainability on PM with a focus on the management of construction projects, such as recognition of context, stakeholders, project objectives and specifications, risk management, dimensions of project success, and project team. The chapter also includes examples and instruments for the integration of sustainability into PM. The chapter concludes that the project manager has a pivotal role in the sustainability of her project and that sustainable PM involves managing a project’s social, environmental, and economic impacts by an approach that considers uncertainty, flexibility, complexity, and opportunity.